Floor cleaning system
A floor cleaning system including a mop with a mop head having a plurality of mopping strands with multiple wringing beads, an elongated adjustable handle with a hand grip and a mop stand assembly, and a bucket with a wringing cone, rollers and a heating element. Also included are bucket rollers, safety feet, heating element shield, drain plug, chemical solution dispenser, bucket hose connection and hose storage reel.
This invention relates to a system for cleaning, disinfecting and coating floors and similar surfaces using a mop and related accessories including a bucket with a heating element, a mop wringer, and a dispenser for fluids such as detergent, wax stripper, disinfectant and waxes.
The use of a mop to clean floors is an age-old method still practiced extensively because it is effective. A typical mop has an elongated handle with a mop head attached to one end. The mop head is formed of strands of moisture adsorbent material, which can be natural or man-made. A mop is generally used with a bucket of water to both wet and rinse the mop head after use. The normal method of using a mop is to wet the mop head in the bucket of water, wring out the mop head by hand and then push the mop head over the floor surface to remove dirt or pick up excess moisture. Once the mop head has been pushed over a certain area of floor, the mop head is placed in the bucket of water to rinse out the dirt and soil removed from the floor. The mop head is then wrung out to remove excess moisture and the process is repeated until the water in the bucket becomes too dirty and must be changed. However, there are certain disadvantages inherent in a simple mop and bucket. Among these are difficulties in wringing and cleaning the mop by hand to remove liquid and dirt so that the mop is as clean as possible when used on the floor. Another problem is what to do with the mop while the water in the bucket is being changed. It is not advisable to simply lay the mop on the floor. Dumping a large bucket of water can also be a problem simply because of the weight.
While the mop and bucket system as described above only discusses the use of water in the bucket, it is well known that warm or hot water will clean better than simple cold water. However, even if hot water is available, a typical bucket will not maintain the water temperature, and what starts as hot water will quickly become cold, thereby diminishing the cleaning effectiveness. Likewise, it is common to add chemical solutions to assist in cleaning or whatever the desired effect might be. For example, wax stripper might be needed to clean wax build up, or a disinfectant might be needed in a health care facility. Such chemical solutions would usually be provided in individual containers and manually mixed in the bucket. A problem exists in handling these containers and storing them while mopping.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe primary objective of the present invention is to provide a complete floor cleaning system and apparatus comprising a mop and bucket and further comprising a mop stand, a mop head with multiple strands with wringing beads, a wringing cone with bead slots, a bucket heating element; a chemical dispenser, a bucket drain and a hose connection for filling the bucket.
The mop of the present invention will have an adjustable telescoping elongated handle fitted with a folding leg stand comprising multiple legs, which, when folded out, will support the mop in a vertical position with the multiple strands of the mop head above the floor. The multiple strands of the mop head with wringing beads, will allow the mop to be wrung in a wringer cone with bead slots without the need for hand wringing.
The telescoping adjustment mechanism is shown in cross section in
The mop 1 further includes a mop head 3 fixed to the second end 2d. The mop head 3 includes a plurality of flexible moisture absorbent strands 4 with a multitude of wringing beads 5 fixed to the strands 4 at a distance apart to facilitate in the wringing operation as described below. The strands 4 can be formed of any durable moisture absorbent material, natural or synthetic. The wringing beads can be of any durable moisture resistant material such as plastic and formed in a spherical shape.
Referring now to
When in the standing position as seen in
The wringer cone 11 is a downward facing or inverted circumferential cone having a wringer cone wall 11a with a plurality of wringing slots 12, a plurality of wringing bead apertures 21, and a wringer cone bottom hole 11b. The wringer cone 11 includes wringing slots 12, spaced at a distance apart and spiraling downward from the wringing bead apertures 21 toward the wringer cone bottom hole 11b as seen in
The innovative wringing operation of the present invention is distinguishable from the prior art in the field of hands-free mop wringing. Almost all hands-free bucket-mounted mop wringing devices require some type of vertical force or compression to remove unwanted liquid, and most also require a twisting or rotational force; the present wringing operation, however, requires only a rotational force.
As depicted in
As shown in
As further shown in
The preferred embodiment of the present invention also includes a bucket hose connection 16, fixed to the bucket wall 9a, for connecting a water hose 25 to a water source. The water hose 25 shall be a general flexible hose of appropriate length and storage is provided by a hose storage reel 23 attached to the bucket wall 9a. A drain plug 17 is also fixed to the bucket wall 9a toward the bucket bottom end 9e and a drain plug retainer 22 is fixed to the bucket wall 9a interior to the drain plug 17. Both the water hose 25 and the drain plug 17 allow the user to respectively fill and drain the bucket 9 without lifting.
The bucket 9 is further provided with a chemical solution dispenser 18 having multiple sealed compartments for storing chemical and cleaning solutions. The solution dispenser 18 as disclosed in the preferred embodiment is provided with a manually operated, pushbutton liquid dispensing valve mechanism that eliminates the potentially dangerous contact between the operator and the harsh chemical solutions. The preferred solution dispenser 18 has an attachment slot 18a for mounting the solution dispenser 18 on the bucket rim 19 as seen in
While in the preceding specification, the present invention has been illustrated and described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments, it will be understood that the present invention is not to be limited to the details thereof. It will however, be apparent to those skilled in the art that various substitutions, modifications, omissions, and changes can be made to the embodiment described above without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.
Claims
1. A floor cleaning system comprising a mop with a mop head having a plurality of mopping strands, an elongated adjustable handle with a hand grip and a mop stand assembly, and a bucket with rollers and a heating element.
2. The floor cleaning system of claim 1 wherein multiple wringing beads are fixed to the mopping strands and a wringing cone is fixed to the bucket.
3. The floor cleaning system of claim 1 wherein the bucket further comprises a drain plug, a hose connection and a chemical solution dispenser.
4. The floor cleaning system of claim 2 wherein the bucket further comprises a drain plug, a hose connection and a chemical solution dispenser.
5. The floor cleaning system of claim 3 wherein the elongated adjustable handle is fitted with a handgrip and the bucket is fitted with safety feet.
6. The floor cleaning system of claim 4 wherein the elongated adjustable handle is fitted with a handgrip and the bucket is fitted with safety feet.
7. A floor cleaning system comprising a mop and bucket,
- said mop comprising;
- an elongated handle having a first and second end being defined by a longitudinal axis, said elongated handle having upper and lower handle segments and at least one hand grip fixed in line with said longitudinal axis, said upper and handle segments having an annular recess allowing the upper and lower handle segments to move along and about said longitudinal axis, said elongated handle further including a means for selectively adjusting the length of said elongated handle at desirable distances along the longitudinal axis, a mop head fixed to said second end, said mop head having a plurality of mopping strands extending therefrom, the mopping strands having wringing beads fixed at distances apart along said mopping strands, and a mop stand leg assembly comprising a mop stand swivel ring fixed to said elongated handle at a distance apart from said second end and a plurality of mop stand legs pivotally attached to said mop stand swivel ring, said mop stand legs being manually engageable to a afford pivotal movement between an upright position when the mop stand leg assembly is in a stored position and a downward facing position when the mop stand leg assembly is in a structural position, said mop stand legs being of such length to afford said mopping strands to be suspended at a distance above a floor surface when said mop stand leg assembly is in said structural position, said mop stand leg assembly further include a means for securing said mop stand legs in said stored position and in said structural position,
- and said bucket having;
- a downward facing mop wringing cone fixed to said bucket, the wringing cone having a plurality of wringing slots, a plurality of wringing bead apertures, and a wringing cone bottom hole, with the wringing slots spiraling generally downward from said wringing bead apertures toward said wringing cone bottom hole, said bucket further comprising the following attachment elements:
- rollers, safety feet, heating element, heating element filter shield, a bucket drain plug, a solution dispenser having an attachment slot, a bucket hose connection, a hose and a hose storage reel.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 24, 2008
Publication Date: Oct 29, 2009
Inventor: Alvin Wooten (New Orleans, LA)
Application Number: 12/148,990
International Classification: A47L 13/20 (20060101); A47L 13/58 (20060101);